SAN ANTONIO — A tense debate over the number of Bexar County Sheriff’s deputies surfaced during commissioner's court this week.
County commissioners are weighing a proposal to shift 12 positions from the sheriff's office to deputy constables.
It’s a move that Sheriff Javier Salazar said was an effort to defund his agency, but county leaders say that’s not the case.
“While I’m in favor of other agencies such as the constables getting more positions as they’re able to, I don’t believe it should come at the expense of the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office,” Sheriff Salazar said in his remarks on Tuesday.
Sheriff Salazar says because of their strong budget position, he asked commissioners to deny a proposal adding 12 positions to county constables.
Precinct 3 Constable Mark Vojvodich tells KENS 5 the constables had proposed to take the positions because they say they have a higher efficiency rating in civil process assignments like serving warrants.
“I don’t think it was done at the expense of the sheriff’s office. The part of the county government we’re responsible for is taking care of the taxpayer, making sure this process is properly served and we should do that at the lowest possible cost. As far as defunding, I don’t think that’s accurate,” Constable Vojvodich said.
“I don’t think it’s [pitting] one agency put against another, the decision-maker is commissioners court. They’re the ones that have to look out for taxpayer dollars, they’re the ones that have to manage the taxpayer's funds. And I leave it to them to decide how they want to decide it,” Vojvodich said.
County commissioners must still sign off on the budget, which they say includes an additional $8 million for the sheriff’s office.
Trish DeBerry, commissioner of Precinct 4, says that she supports law enforcement, and feels Sheriff Salazar is politicizing the conversation.
“We thought this was a great way to be able to help out the sheriff by allocating resources to the constable's office, but also enabling him to put more officers out on patrol,” Commissioner DeBerry said.
“To me, this is an opportunity for a big help, not necessarily a hindrance,” she added.
Jeremy Payne, president of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Bexar County, disagrees the move would help the sheriff’s office and its deputies.
“Just leave the positions alone. If you continue to change things and do these things when morale is low, you’ll only have a morale dip even more,” Payne said.
Salazar’s letter says, “This effort to take deputies from me, and thereby affecting public safety, is highly suspect.”
Commissioner Tommy Calvert suggested that commissioners try to use the American Rescue Plan Act funds to allow the sheriff’s office to keep those 12 positions.
Commissioners will have a budget workshop on Friday at 2 p.m. before having a final vote on the budget on Tuesday.
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